Kerala Governor M O H Farook passes away in Chennai

Kerala Governor and three-time Chief Minister of Puducherry M O H Farook passed away at a hospital in Chennai last night after ailing for some time, sources in the Raj Bhavan said here today.

He was 74. He is survived by his son M O H F Shahjahan and daughters F Malika and F Yasmin.

His body will be flown to Puducherry for the funeral later in the day, sources said. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Legislative Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan and several State Ministers and officials are expected to attend the funeral, they added.

Farook, who had assumed office as Governor of Kerala on September 8, was admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Chennai on December 4, where he was being treated for cancer. For the last many days, he was on medical leave and Karnataka Governor H R Bhardwaj was holding additional charge as the Governor of Kerala.

Farook, who hailed from Karaikal, had participated in the struggle for liberation of Pondicherry (as Puducherry was known then) from France during 1953-54 when it was a French colony.

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He served as Chief Minister of Puducherry thrice from April 9, 1967- March 6, 1968, March 17, 1969 – January 3, 1974 and from 1985 to 1990. Earlier, he had served as Speaker of the Puducherry Assembly at the age of 27.

He was elected three times in 1991, 1996 and 1999 to the Lok Sabha from the Union Territory and had served as Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation and Tourism between June 1991 and December 1992.

In September 2004, he was appointed as the Indian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and in 2010 as Governor of Jharkhand. Last year, he was transferred to Kerala for the remainder of his term.